Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-08-19
OLYMPIA. WARRINGTON TER.
OLYMPIA. FRIDAY EVENING, aug. 10. 1887
Partisan SOphistry.

VLtNPlA, FRlDA NEAlNG, AUG. IL, 1871.
Partisan SOphistry.
The Partisan processes to have dis
covered q veritable mares nest in the
organization Of the Prohibition party
in this city. 1t declares that the
movement originated with some very
wise Democratic spiders, who skillfully
wove net to entrap some very inno-
cent and unsuspecting Republican
flies, and to accomplish this result
leading Democrats signed the call
or agreement" and when they had in
duced many "poor, unsophisticated
Republicans" to do likewise, rushed
to the printer and demanded that
their names be stricken from the in
dictment against the Democratic as
well as the Republican parties"
1t must be confessed that this state
ment places the whole matter in a
new light, and had the STANDARD
been AZ able to see through milestone
Is the astute Partisan, it might not
have condemned the proceeding as
heartily as it did in its issue of the 9Th
instant; for whatever may be the
opinion as to the means employed for
the accomplishment of a great good,
it must be admitted that the end does
sometimes justify, if it does not glorify,
the means used to bring it about. If
there is occasionally an opportunity
presented for winning our deluded Re-
publican brethren from idol-worship,
by the substitution of some living is
sue for their little party god, We are
ready and willing to absolve all DEM
ocrats from blame who choose to act
Is high priests at the sacrifice.
The Partisan should be careful, how
ever, when it arraigns its party friends,
to make out a clear case, or its stric-
lures subject only itself to ridicule.
When it assumes that "The Republi-
can party is now, and has always been,
the brains, the heart and conscience
Of the nation" it seems little strange
that prominent Republicans, who
must of necessity be endowed by ma
ture with o modicum of this same
common-sense and virtue which that
paper denominates "the brains, the
heart and the conscience" of the party
should be stigmatized in the same SEN
tence 40 fools, which the terms limo
cent" and "unsophisticated" imply
Must we be forced to the belief thai
these paragons of all that is intellec
tual and good, while they are in the
party, became all at once noodles when
they step outside lite pale? Is it to be
taken as an established fact that rea
son and madness are SO nearly allied
q single act, like the signing Of Pro
hibition call, makes at once an igno
ramus out of an individual of com
mendable intellectual parts? Or hat
not the Partisan, in its zeal, oversize,
the marki Has it not in the endeavol
to belittle those who step outside thu
party organization, attacked the valid
ity Of its assumption that the Republi
can party is after all anything more
than an aggregation of individuals
united for the advancement of a code
of principles that depend upon tn
conditions of the day, the temper o.
the people, and the shrewdness of thu
place-hunter for its existence? Tn
idea that either party enjoys monop
oily Of the brains of the country is sim
ply preposterous, with the many shin
ing lights in view that have illuminet
the pathway of either organization
The claim that the Republican part,
is more attached to sobriety or an.
other virtue, than men Of the oppc
site faith, is absurd when we contras
the condition and habits of the solidl
Democratic South with the bibulou
inclinations of the largely Republican
North. Nor can we find, anywhere il
our broad country, an admitted RI
publican political subdivision that ca
truthfully claim q higher grade {
morality than any other over whic
their political opponents possess cor
troll.
When we consider that assurance
vulearly called "cheek," generally in
presses . confiding people with an e,
allied sense of the claims set up by O
rogant advocates Of any given dogm'
it is . matter for congratulation tbs
wisdom is not always an accompan
ment Of zeal, and AZ in the instane
OuOXuCO w VIC WCtouH, VIC hAuS
close observation, its utterances col
tain indubitable evidence of the veal
ness of the position it assumes, and i
diatribe passes for just what it is-tf
veriest sophistry.
A LAW passed by the last Congre'
requires every marriage ceremony pc
formed in any Of the Territories to
certified by the minister or officer pc
forming it, giving the full names
the parties, and this certificate mu
be signed by the parties married ar
by the minister or officer performir
the ceremony and then filed for recol
in the Probate Court. Punishmel
for violation may be one thousand dc
lars or imprisonment for two years.